Chapter 153: The Whereabouts of the Pluton Blueprints [Part 1]
The answer was within the Chief Judge's expectations, yet still beyond them.
He managed to keep his composure, at least on the surface.
Spandam was not so skilled.
"What did you say?" Spandam blurted out, eyes widening. "You know something about the Pluton blueprints?"
Axel looked at him.
"Do you want to know where they are?"
To Spandam, those words were temptation itself.
There was no dignity left in his face. His eyes shone with naked greed, and even his voice grew sharper from excitement.
"Of course I want to know. Tell me where they are."
Axel smiled.
"But I don't want to tell you."
Spandam's breath caught in his chest.
For a moment, it would neither rise nor fall, leaving him so uncomfortable his face twisted.
"What do you want?" Spandam demanded. "What exactly do I have to do for you to tell me? I guarantee that as long as you give me the Pluton blueprints, I'll release Tom immediately."
In Spandam's eyes, Tom was only a shipwright.
His only value lay in the Pluton blueprints.
As long as Spandam obtained them and secured his path to promotion, what did it matter if he let one worthless shipwright go?
Axel shook his head.
Spandam's expression darkened.
"I want you to release Tom first," Axel said. "Then I'll tell you about the Pluton blueprints."
Spandam lowered his head and thought.
His first reaction was that this had to be a trick.
"What if I release Tom, and the information you give me is fake?"
Axel laughed lightly.
"Don't worry. By release, I only mean freeing him from his cell. You can bring him here. If I'm lying, you can arrest him again."
That proposal left Spandam with no real reason to refuse.
Still, this was the Chief Judge's territory.
Spandam turned to look at the old man.
The Chief Judge silently nodded.
Only then did Spandam look back at Axel.
"Fine. I agree."
A short while later, Tom was brought in on a stretcher.
His body was so large that even the biggest stretcher in Enies Lobby could not fully support him. Much of him hung over the sides, and it took eight people carrying it together to keep it steady.
Tom was not lying on the stretcher by choice.
His battered body had already fainted.
His clothes, previously stained dark red with dried blood, were soaked fresh again where his wounds had reopened. Judging from the torn injuries, something had clearly agitated him before he was brought here.
The eight Marines set him down carefully and withdrew.
Axel stepped forward.
His brows furrowed.
Anyone could see that Tom's condition was bad.
Axel placed one hand on Tom's body. He first controlled the flow of blood, guiding it away from the wounds to stop the bleeding from worsening. Then he turned his head slightly toward Spandam.
"Shouldn't someone treat him?"
His voice was calm, but the words were pointed.
"My subordinate was treated like this here, and you still call this Enies Lobby, a court established by the World Government? From what I see, it looks more like a place for extracting confessions through torture."
The Chief Judge's face grew heavier.
As someone who believed in justice, he could not deny those words.
Especially since he was one of those who carried out the Government's orders.
Spandam, on the other hand, did not care at all.
To him, torture was only a method. There was nothing shameful about it. In fact, he considered it one of the quickest and most efficient ways to solve troublesome matters.
He had used it many times before.
The results had always been good.
"Of course he can be treated," Spandam said. "But aren't you forgetting something? I've fulfilled your request. Now what about mine?"
His eyes burned with impatience.
"Where are the blueprints?"
"Treat him first," Axel said. "Otherwise, there's nothing to discuss."
His hand remained on Tom's body.
The condition for his ability required contact with a medium and direction. If he wanted to control the flow of blood inside someone's body, he had to keep touching them.
Spandam froze.
The sentence was short, but it left no opening.
After a moment, he snapped, "Didn't we agree that if I released him, you would tell me about the Pluton blueprints?"
Pluton blueprints.
Those words seemed to carry a strange magic.
Tom, who had been unconscious, stirred.
His eyes opened weakly.
It seemed that even while fainted, part of him had heard the conversation. The first thing he did after waking was ask about the thing he cared about most.
"…Pluton… blueprints…"
Tom's voice was rough and faint.
"…where…?"
He remembered very clearly that he had given the blueprints to his apprentices.
Did the Government already know?
If they did, then Iceburg and Franky would be dragged into this as well.
Anxiety rose in him at once.
At that moment, Axel lifted his hand slightly and placed it before Tom's eyes, drawing his attention.
Tom's vision was blurred, but he could still vaguely make out the Marine Captain who had come to see him before.
In his hazy consciousness, he remembered the warnings this child had given him.
Back then, Tom had understood the danger.
Even so, he had not made the decision to burn the blueprints left by his predecessors.
After all, only Pluton could counter another Pluton that might still exist somewhere in the world.
As for Franky matter, Tom had also been unable to make the boy destroy his own ships.
A man had to face the ship he built with his head held high.
Axel moved his lips slightly.
At the same time, he used his ability to prevent the sound from spreading.
"Don't worry. Iceburg and the others asked me to come. No matter what happens next, just trust them."
Them?
Iceburg and Franky?
Tom realized something and immediately became anxious.
"Fla… m…"
But his body was almost broken. With his emotions surging, even Axel's control over his blood flow could not let him speak properly.
Axel understood what Tom wanted to ask.
From that broken syllable and the urgency in his eyes, he must have heard news about Franky.
"Franky is fine," Axel said quietly. "Don't worry."
For Tom, this was the best news he could have heard.
He closed his eyes.
The tears gathering at the corners were hidden before they could fall.
Spandam heard none of it.
He saw Axel's lips move, but no sound reached him. Since he could not make out anything, he did not pay much attention.
As for the treatment, after thinking it over, he decided he could allow it.
Even if Tom received medical care, that monster of a fish-man would not immediately recover his fighting strength. Besides, this was Enies Lobby. He would not be allowed to act wildly here.
More importantly, a new thought had occurred to Spandam.
If what Axel said was true, then subordinates were merely disposable tools.
When weighing the value of the Pluton blueprints against the value of one subordinate, the choice was obvious.
At least Spandam himself would never do something as stupid as trading information about Pluton for a subordinate.
Afraid that Axel might change his mind, Spandam quickly nodded and ordered someone to call a medic.
Throughout the entire exchange, the Chief Judge sat nearby.
He neither agreed nor objected.
Like a statue, he remained only an observer.
No one could tell what he was truly thinking.
.....
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